School Case Studies
The case studies are organised into four broad categories: government schools that have undertaken a redesign of middle years schooling; independent progressive models; re-engagement settings serving highly disengaged learners; and schools experimenting with innovation within more conventional structures. These categories are intended as an organising device rather than fixed classifications as several schools combine features from more than one group.
The international schools are included as comparative reference points. They illustrate what becomes possible when conventional structural and assessment constraints are relaxed. They are not proposed as direct models for Victorian schools, as context always matters, but they challenge assumptions about what is necessary or possible in school design
International Case Study: Alpha School
- International Case Studies
High Tech High is a network of 16 tuition-free public charter schools in San Diego, serving approximately 6,350 students from kindergarten to Year 12 (High Tech High, n.d.). Students are admitted by zip-code-based lottery with no test or prior achievement requirements, and approximately 50% come from low-income families (High Tech High, n.d.).
International Case Study: High Tech High
- International Case Studies
High Tech High is a network of 16 tuition-free public charter schools in San Diego, serving approximately 6,350 students from kindergarten to Year 12 (High Tech High, n.d.). Students are admitted by zip-code-based lottery with no test or prior achievement requirements, and approximately 50% come from low-income families (High Tech High, n.d.).
International Case Study: Bedales School
- International Case Studies
Bedales School has operated for 132 years on a 120-acre estate in the Hampshire countryside. Founded in 1893 by John Haden Badley as a reaction against the authoritarian, examination-focused English public school system, it was co-educational by 1898 and had a formal School Council giving students a voice in governance by 1916. Its founding philosophy - "head, hand and heart" - treats intellectual, practical and emotional development as equally constitutive of a full education.
Case Study: Residential, Rural and Community-Living Models
- Innovation within conventional structures and residential models
Rural and Community-Living Models involve middle-years designs in which students, most commonly in Year 9, leave their home campus for an extended experience that often combines academic learning with outdoor, community-based and personal development opportunities.
Case Study: Overnewton Anglican Community College
- Innovation within conventional structures and residential models
Overnewton Anglican Community College is a mid-fee independent Prep-Year 12 school in Melbourne's north-west, enrolling approximately 2,146 students across two campuses in Keilor (Yirramboi) and Taylors Lakes (Canowindra) (Overnewton Anglican Community College, 2024). Its defining feature is a standalone Year 9 Centre at the Canowindra campus, physically separated from both Middle School (Years 5-8) and Senior School (Years 10-12).
Case Study: Carey Baptist Grammar School
- Innovation within conventional structures and residential models
Carey Baptist Grammar School is an independent co-educational school in Kew, Melbourne, founded in 1923. With approximately 2,564 students across five campuses and an ICSEA of 1177, Carey is one of the largest and most resourced independent schools in Victoria (My School, 2025). Its academic performance is consistently strong, with recent cohorts achieving high proportions of ATARs above 90 alongside robust IB results.
Case Study: Hester Hornbrook Academy (HHA)
- Re-engagement settings
Hester Hornbrook Academy (HHA) is a fee-free independent Specialist Assistance School operating across five metropolitan Melbourne campuses, with a Geelong campus planned for 2027. It is governed by Melbourne City Mission (MCM), a long-standing community service organisation.
Case Study: The Pavilion School
- Re-engagement settings
The Pavilion School is a Victorian government flexible learning program operating as a sub-campus of Charles La Trobe P–12 College (CLTC) in Melbourne's north. Founded in 2007, the school began with 20 students in a sporting pavilion in West Heidelberg in response to community concern that mainstream schooling was not serving a cohort of highly disengaged young people.
Case Study: Global Village Learning (GVL)
- Independent progressive models
Global Village Learning (GVL) is a small independent school located on a 10-acre rural property in New Gisborne, in Victoria's Macedon Ranges. Formerly Gisborne Montessori School, it rebranded to Global Village Learning in 2023–2024. GVL draws on Montessori, Reggio Emilia, place-based and inquiry-based traditions, integrating these within a learner-led framework.